Mission of the department:

Lead the development, implementation and coordination of WWF conservation programs in the Republic of Congo (RoC). Ensure the ongoing alignment of the WWF RoC strategic and conservation plans with WWF priorities as well as national government priorities.

Major functions:

II.a. Conservation
The RoC Conservation Director is responsible for implementing the WWF RoC conservation strategy, programs development and managing the RoC conservation team; In addition, the Conservation Director is responsible for fostering collaboration with WWF network entities and implementation of WWF’s environmental and social safeguards framework (ESSF) in the Republic of Congo.

II.b. Policy and Advocacy
Regularly engage with key actors (national and decentralized government entities, international actors, technical and financial partners, local communities including Indigenous People) to establish and operate platforms for dialogue. Working closely with the Country Director when it comes to national level programming and engagement with stakeholders as well as to ensure the links between WWF’s landscape programs and national level dialogues.

Major duties and responsabilities:

• Develop a common understanding of national priorities, regional trends and opportunities for delivering impact aligned with national conservation objectives and WWF Global goals.
• Accelerate the development, design and implementation of the high-quality national programs and projects, fully compliant with quality assurance and ESSF frameworks
• Support the Practices in promoting innovation within national/regional geographies and advise on how new ideas can be best supported, incubated, prototyped and accelerated.
• Ensure that WWF’s conservation work on the ground is aligned to WWF’s social policies, clearly upholding the human rights of local communities and indigenous people.
• Through the platforms, identify areas where policy changes or developments are needed to achieve WWF’s objectives in the Republic of Congo.
• Support the Government of Republic of Congo to progress on national level policies, dialogues, and forums, especially on land use planning, conservation of biodiversity, climate mitigation and adaptation, peatland conservation, etc.
• Work closely with the fundraising/resource mobilization teams in the development of sustainable donor agreements for conservation delivery.
• Partner with the Country Director to identify and pursue crucial opportunities for joint action with other conservation groups and external partners locally and regionally, to co- lead and promote unified conservation agendas.
• Facilitate collaboration frameworks, guide and provide oversight and support for seamless delivery of transboundary conservation initiatives.
• Identify funding opportunities for WWF, and discuss these with the Country Director so to jointly decide on which ones to pursue. For those identified, plan, direct and oversee the development of concepts and proposals in accordance with WWF field operations policies and procedures.
• Establish a system to track funding opportunities as is responsible for implementation and to keep the Country Director and the regional conservation director for the Congo Basin informed on those opportunities and any critical issues and deadlines
• Identify and prioritize the most promising opportunities for external partnerships to support delivering impact at national level.
• Provide technical support in the recruitment and selection of experienced WWF RoC conservation staff and consultants.
• Lead the conservation team and ensure clarity on roles, responsibilities and objectives.
• Identify and address capacity and operational constraints to the effective implementation of Global program strategies and Initiatives (if applicable) at national level.
• Support learning and ensure best practices are adopted to improve conservation outcomes and operational excellence.
• Ensure effective performance monitoring of the implementation of conservation plans, by promoting timely and effective reporting against the WWF dashboard and KPIs, based on annual and strategic plans.
• Represent WWF in the Republic of Congo in relevant engagements with local partners and help to manage key conservation relationships.
• Provide inputs to communications products/campaigns at all levels to ensure accurate information is published to promote the image of WWF RoC and its conservation activities.
• Act as spokesperson for conservation issues as required in coordination with the Country Director, the communications team, and the Congo Basin Conservation Director, as appropriate.
• Participate in the Conservation Directors’ Forum and other appropriate Networks involving other WWF country offices to influence conservation impact at global scale.
• Support the development and implementation of a WWF RoC communication strategy together with the regional communication team.
• Undertakes other tasks as requested and agreed with the Country Director.

Working relationships:

Internal: Works closely with the WWF RoC P&C Manager and Finance Manager; the Congo Basin Conservation Director, the Country Conservation Directors, the Africa ESSF & Social Policy Head, Initiative leads, relevant Practice Leaders, their core teams, Country Directors in the Congo Basin region, and other relevant stakeholders within the broader WWF network.

External: Creates and fosters close collaboration with external partners in governments, intergovernmental institutions, business and industry, INGOs, civil society, Internal & external donors, local NGOs and local communities.

This job description covers the main tasks and conveys the spirit of the sort of tasks that are anticipated proactively from staff. Other tasks may be assigned as necessary according to organisational needs.